bondi

Dr. Irvine

I had a job in a Sydney shoe shop

with Irvine Welsh in 95

he was a small 23yo Scottish woman

I was a noodle goth, 18

Trainspotting had just come out at the cinema

my friends did heroin

got arrested stealing mobile phones from cars

while I

did time in the storeroom

avoiding customers

Irvine and I took bellydancing lessons

drank Irn Bru in a Glebe café and

dossed in Bondi Junction

with the latest blue-bottled wine

it was before Facebook so

he will never find me now

 

Photo: John Broks on Unsplash

Mothballs

 

sometimes remember Bondi

but the moments I’ve known

were in flats with bad circumstances

too much booze

or a car involved

phantom cigarettes

it can’t be the fires

the old smell of shared hallways

in run-down brick blocks

and the naphthalene of

grandparents’ blankets

with sea brine and

stale schooners, a scarred benchtop

we were there

remember?

it was only ever one night

here and there

upstairs

in Bondi

 

Photo: Bondi Beach by Yang Xia on Unsplash